Publications

Linked below are selected publications by Dr. John Kasarda addressing the basics of airport city and aerotropolis planning and development as well as articles on his work and that of Aerotropolis Business Concepts LLC. A more comprehensive set of publications can be found at www.aerotropolis.com.

Logistical Support for Manufacturing Agility in Global Markets

1994

Appears in International Journal of Operations & Production Management

Achieving success in the global market has required fundamental shifts in the way business is conducted and has dramatically affected virtually every aspect of manufacturing strategy.

Air Passenger Linkages and Employment Growth in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

August 1991

Appears in American Sociological Review

Despite the ubiquity of air travel and the critical role of transportation in spatial processed, no sociological work on the consequences of aviation has been produced in nearly three decades. We analyze the relationship between the structure of the airline network and employment growth in 104 metropolitan areas.

An Industrial/Aviation Complex for the Future

Commercial real estate development has always thrived on accessibility and taken advantage of changes in transportation technology.

Trade, Transportation, and Spatial Distribution

1990

Appears in The Handbook of Economic Sociology
(Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press)

Trade, transportation, and the distribution of human activity in space are intrinsically interrelated concepts. Trade links territorially distinct communities, regions, and nations across space through economic exchanges. Trade is, thus, a specific type of social interaction, one involving both a spatial component (distance) and a relational component (exchange between sociospatial systems).

Spatial Processes

The centrality of spatial processes and relationships to social life manifests itself at numerous conceptual levels. At the most mundane, all behavior occurs in space. At a higher, but still quite basic level of abstraction, spatial processes and patterns serve as useful indicators of technological and organizational adaptations of human groups to their natural and social environments.

"International airline routes are the quintessential manifestation of 21st century globalization. They are our high-speed physical Internet, moving people and products quickly and efficiently over long distances. Airports are its routers, attracting time-critical, globally-oriented businesses of all types to their environs creating a new urban form – the Aerotropolis."

"The aerotropolis is the physical incarnation of globalization made concrete in urban form reflecting local interfaces of worldwide airborne flows of people and products."

John D. Kasarda

"In today's globally-networked, turbulent economy it is no longer the big eating the small but the fast eating the slow. Economies of speed have become as important as economies of scale and economies of scope for firms and cities to compete."

"The primary metrics for aerotropolis planning are not space and distance but time and cost of connecting. It is not how far but how fast firms and business people can connect to their suppliers, customers, and enterprise partners locally, nationally and globally."

John D. Kasarda

"Cities used to be almost exclusively destinations and airports solely places of departure. Now airports are becoming destinations and cities places of departure as their residents and workers increasingly travel to emerging airport cities and aerotropolises around the world."

John D. Kasarda

"A globally competitive aerotropolis will not likely evolve on a spontaneous, ad hoc basis. Rather, it must be guided by a shared vision, strategy, and coordinated actions among the private, public, and institutional sectors."

John D. Kasarda

"In the Aerotropolis model, transportation and logistics are not costs to be minimized, but value-adding services to be optimized."

John D. Kasarda

"Airports today are not just trade facilitators; they are trade creators by quickly connecting businesspeople and high-value, time-critical products to distant customers and markets."

John D. Kasarda

"Under Global City 4.0, exports of knowledge-based, information-intensive business services – delivered to distant sites by air traveling auditors, consultants, corporate lawyers, investment bankers, marketers, and professionals of all types – will far eclipse the value of the Global City’s goods exports."

John D. Kasarda

"As our world becomes increasingly networked, ever-greater amounts of commerce will flow to and through its hubs, especially its major air hubs and the metropolitan regions they serve, creating a global hierarchy of aerotropolises established by the strength of air hub connectivity and resulting value of goods and services trade generated."

John D. Kasarda

"Airports will shape business location and urban development in the 21st century as much as highways did in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th and seaports in the 18th"• John D. Kasarda